Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson, l^l 



the fine efEect of the interior. The pillars and arches were 

 scraped so as to free them from the plaster and paint that had 

 disfigured them for nearly a century. No attempt was made to 

 renew the capitals and arch mouldings that had been knocked 

 away inside the old church, but in both of the side aisles the 

 recently discovered groin ribs were replaced as far as practicable. 

 The north wall was partially restored so as to indicate its original 

 character ; and the portion of the south wall that was wanting 

 was rebuilt. Not a few of the pillars of the clerestory were 

 renewed ; nearly the whole of the corbelled eave course on the 

 north was restored ; and to prevent water percolating down 

 through the masonry, the wall- heads were covered with Caith- 

 ness pavement. The wall-heads throughout the other parts of 

 the building were also carefully cleaned and covered with cement. 

 The slates were taken out of the west window, and its appear- 

 ance was further altered by the removal of a mullion and 

 transom which formed no part of the original design. The 

 mullion branched away at the top, and formed two pointed 

 lights; and the transom, which had rudely formed cusps, 

 crossed half way up. A small window with a trefoil arch was 

 for the same reason removed from above that on the north side 

 of the west doorway. 



On clearing away the accumulation of earth under the flooring 

 of the church, the workmen came upon large quantities of 

 human bones all of which had been previously disturbed ; and 

 holes were dug in the adjoining grounds where they were care- 

 fully deposited. One of the skulls picked up attracted some 

 attention as it bore the mark of what seemed to have been a 

 wound caused by a sabre — the result doubtless of some dint given 

 in the rough days of Border warfare — but the wound not being a 

 fatal one had healed up before death gave the final stroke. They 

 also came upon a regularly buUt vault of stone with arched roof 

 in the north aisle containing two coffins — one of lead, the other 

 of oak — and as all remembrance of the existence of such had 

 been forgotten, many conjectures were made as to who were its 

 occupants. The mystery was, however, cleared up. Thomas 

 Philip Ainslie of Over Wells, in the parish of Jedburgh, having 

 died at Newcastle on the 18th of May, 1837, application was 

 made to the Kirk Session for permission to have his remains 

 laid " in the vault within the church," granted by the heritors 

 to his father. The Kirk Session regretted that permission could 



